by Wesley Stein
“So, that’s it?” I asked. “We’re going to drink and then what, stay here forever? You two join Juliet’s little Triad and I get to serve you as a villager, is that the plan?”
Jacey brushed me off.
“Don’t be stupid,” she said. “We’re gonna drink and get back to the beach. We just need to keep alive until we can steal a boat or figure something out.”
“I’m not drinking,” I said. “If you two want to do it, fine. I can’t stop you. But I hope you’ll figure out a way to get me out of here soon.”
Joanna and Jacey walked to the fountain. I fell to my knees and watched, weak and feeling somewhat betrayed. I saw my sisters hold out their hands toward the tree of water. They cupped them and held them under the falling sheets. Then they drank.
At once Mark and Rachel were moving up the tunnel, presumably to alert Tybalt.
I watched as Joanna and Jacey drank a handful, then another, recovering more of their energy with each gulp. Smiles were growing on their faces. They seemed to glow as they stood there, now as happy as I’d ever seen them. They moaned with pleasure as they drank and poured water from their hands over their heads.
Joanna suddenly stripped off her top and cupped water to her breasts with her hands. Jacey poured water down her chest, and soon her blouse was gone too. The next thing I knew, my sisters were both naked and writhing on the ground.
“It’s so good,” Jacey cried.
“So good,” Joanna repeated her chest heaving in deep gasps of pleasure.
It went on like this for a few minutes.
They eventually calmed down and somewhat collected themselves, though they were now topless and wet from head to toe. I retreated to the edge of the cavern, unsure what to expect next.
Joanna noticed the tunnel was no longer guarded and came in my direction with Jacey beside her.
“Now is our chance,” Joanna said. “Let’s go.”
Her eyes were wide with the kind of numbness that comes from drugs.
Jacey came in front of us, leading the way up the tunnel. I was relieved to see the way out was clear and relieved to see that my sisters were okay, but was troubled by their behavior.
They were high. Their eyes were narrow slits and small smiles seemed set permanently into their faces. The layer of normalcy that masked their innermost desires was very thin.
“Are you two okay?” I asked. Were they unaware of how they’d behaved? They both turned back to me with big smiles.
“Jenn, you have no idea how great this feels,” Joanna said. “You’re missing out.”
“Sure are,” Jacey confirmed.
“Come on,” I said and stepped in front of them.
At the end of the passage we could see the wooden platform. I slowed to first check the cavern. No one guarded it.
“Wait,” Joanna said. “All that talk about it, I need one more drink before we go.”
She turned and bolted like a bullet, back down the tunnel and out the steam-filled opening.
“She’s right,” Jacey said. “We’re already here. We might as well have another drink before we go. Come on!”
“Are you crazy?” I asked. She didn’t hear me. She was already down the passageway, crossing the bridge and gobbling up the font’s pure water.
I thought about going down, drinking with them. I wanted to in a way. But I knew that wouldn’t help me or my sisters. And even if the only side effect was everlasting life, who wants to live forever? Not me.
I stepped onto the platform and looked from side to side again. I saw the exit passage that led back to the Crossing Cavern, but then I saw something else. It was the stalactite, reflecting a golden hue.
A sliver of daylight was peeking into the chamber. A large stone was blocking a narrow tunnel, which looked like it had once been a waterway. The islanders must have seen it as a vulnerability because they’d covered it. But they had also rigged an enormous lever and pulley system beneath the stone, should they need to move it.
I climbed down from the platform and snuck across the cave, to the lever. I paused and didn’t see or hear anyone. Then I pulled down on the end of the lever, which was almost as long as I was tall.
I had to reach up to shoulder height, but I grabbed the end of the wooden beam and hung from it like an ape. Nothing happened. Then I tugged with my body weight, and the stone rocked up and down an inch. I let go.
As I retreated to the platform, I was hopeful. We had a way out. Three of us could easily pull the lever. And if necessary, two of us could probably pull it, while the third escaped through the hole. There was sunshine somewhere on the other side of that stone. I was too weak and thirsty, but I knew my sisters were strong enough to help me.
When I got back to the end of the tunnel, I saw them at the base of the fountain. Joanna and Jacey were laughing and splashing. I swallowed my fear and dread.
I ran over the bridge, across the stone island, and up the fountain base. Water was splashing in my face and hair as I reached down and grabbed each of them by an arm. The idea of drinking was tempting.
“Come on!” I shouted. “We have a way out! Snap out of it!” I grabbed Joanna by the shoulders and shook her. She smiled and nodded.
“Okay, okay,” she said. I released her and grabbed Jacey.
“Jacey, there’s a way out,” I cried. “But it will take all of us. Can you make it?”
Her eyes were rolled back in her head, and her tongue was poking through her smile. I slapped her in the face. Her eyes crossed and came to focus on me for a moment.
“We need to go,” I said with every ounce of earnestness I had in me.
She saw me, she heard me. She nodded. I got her to her feet and we stepped off the fountain’s base with Joanna.
Again the three of us walked to the passageway. And this time we made it out. We reached the platform and I paused.
I regarded my sisters, who were still acting strangely, but they were topless and wet so I wondered if they were only cold. I pointed out the tunnel blocked by the stone.
“See the lever?” I asked. They nodded, and their eyes grew wide.
“A way out!” Joanna said.
My spirits lifted as they moved to the edge of the platform. But then Jacey paused and took a step back into the tunnel.
“We know how to get out now,” she said. “Let me just get one more drink. I’ll be right back.”
Joanna wasn’t going to be denied either. She reentered the tunnel too, and without a word, followed Jacey back down the passage and across the bridge.
My heart sank.
I fell to the platform and wept. I cried for a while. The water had ruined my sisters’ minds. I decided to give up on them for a moment and focus on getting myself safe. I needed water. I needed to breathe fresh air.
I tried again to move the lever myself. I searched for anything that would be useful, but the cavern offered no tools. I exited through the passage to the Crossing Cavern.
When I reached the catacombs, I was weary. I only wanted to get away from that fountain, get out of these caves, and find a way back to the beach. But the adrenaline that had carried me so far beyond my body’s limits was running out, and I soon collapsed.
When everything was black, I could peacefully dream. I saw a flash of white and Juliet was there. She grabbed me up and carried me away.
I choked and raised my head. It wasn’t a dream.
It was not Juliet that carried me, but a strange man. Juliet went beside us and I saw her look toward the tunnel to the fountain room.
As she did, my head fell backward and I saw Tybalt go in with Claudius and Gertrude. I knew they were on their way to collect my sisters.
They wouldn’t capture them but invite them. They would emerge from the catacombs hand in hand, united under the power of the water. I had seen that power first hand.
My last thought, before my mind went black, was a fear that my sisters had switched sides.
CHAPTER 7
FAMILY TIES
Around me, the islanders filled the tiered seating, rising on all four sides of the square, until it reached the decking of the luxury huts. Everyone was cheering.
In the middle of the square was the bonfire and from near the bonfire, a path of large stones led to where I was tied to a post. The stones had been arranged by height, from lowest to highest, to create a set of curving stairs.
There were people too, naked people all around. A couple was positioned in front of each of the four tiers, as they were three times each day.
But this ceremony seemed special.
Naked men wandered the square, wearing boar heads on top of their shoulders. Nude women walked slow circles around the fire, and past me, each of them staring me in the eyes as they did.
There was no point in calling out, my mouth had been gagged by the strip of fabric which bound my head to the post. I could only move enough to see from one side of the square to the other.
In front of me, beyond the fire and high upon her promenade, Juliet sat in her satin slip, among several very fit nude men. Some of the men held drums, and they began to beat them. Everyone paused. Juliet stood and walked to the edge of the railing.
“Tonight,” she began in a loud voice to address the square, “We usher in a new era for our civilization.”
There was a cheer from the crowd, all of them standing to their feet. Juliet raised her hands to calm the din before she continued.
“Perhaps you’ve heard the rumors?” She asked. “The sisters of the prophecy have come to Three-Hook Island.”
The crowd roared.
“Tonight we welcome our two newest citizens,” Juliet said. “And they’re no ordinary grifters.”
The crowd laughed and cheered more.
“Tonight, the three hooks will finally take their rightful place. The vision of Shakespeare Mills and his Triad will be fulfilled.”
A final cheer from the crowd, and then the drums began again. Juliet stood on the first row of the deck railing and shouted.
“Please welcome the ruler of the southwestern shore, Portia!”
My oldest sister walked out of Juliet’s hut, onto the promenade.
Joanna’s short hair was perfectly tousled as if she’d just stepped out of the stylist’s chair. Her skin was glowing and she wore only a white silk dress. The crowd loved her.
She came out and smiled and waved. I tried to scream for her, but she couldn’t hear me over the mob.
“Please also welcome,” Juliet shouted again. “The ruler of the southeastern shore, Ophelia!”
Jacey walked out of the hut then, her blonde hair and fair skin like a star in the night. She smiled and waved and tossed her hair and the villagers ate it up.
My sisters stood on either side of Juliet, and she took each of them by the hand, holding them up together in victory. The colony roared, then finally quieted when the drums stopped.
I tried to scream again then, through the gag. It didn’t matter. Joanna and Jacey knew I was there. They could see me tied to a post in the middle of the square.
Juliet made a motion and women suddenly appeared between the tiered rows of seats, each of them carrying a stack of colored linen.
They walked through the bleachers and into the square, where they lined up in a semi-circle around the fire, facing away from the blaze.
“Everyone on the island drew one of three colors from the box today,” Juliet called. “Now, come and collect your new robes.”
The crowds began to disperse and were soon lined up to collect their tunic or dress from one of the linen-bearers. “Cast off these bland white robes and step into a new world.”
Juliet waved to my sisters and I watched as they disappeared back into the hut. Meanwhile, every last person in the village stripped down and changed into their new garb.
Afterward, instead of returning to the stands, they ordered themselves by color, into three separate lines. There was red on one side and green on the other, with gold in the middle.
Soon, Juliet reappeared on the balcony with Joanna and Jacey. Each of them was now adorned with beautiful new robes, Joanna’s with hints of Red and Jacey’s with emerald green accents, while Juliet’s was mostly golden.
They stood before their respective colors. The drums pounded.
“People of Three-Hooks Island,” Juliet began her speech. “When our founder first discovered the fountain, he had no one with which to share it. Then came the Triad. When Romeo and myself joined with Shakespeare to receive a vision for this island, we saw the mind of God.
We did not imagine a world relegated to one small stretch of beach, but nor did we envision one open for all the Earth to pillage. What we saw was a world diverse enough to sustain life forever but small enough to keep it hidden.
Once we have settled each of the three shores, we’ll begin to develop unique customs and cultures.
Green-robes will grow things. And your sexual pleasure will derive from the food of the island. Red-robes will build things and you will reach ecstasy from the engineering you create.
Golden-robes will govern and protect the fountain.
The problem which drove so many of our forefathers to abandon the island, including both Romeo and Shakespeare, can finally be solved.”
The lines of villagers clapped their hands and cheered.
Juliet waved at her counterparts, and the three women were soon walking down the steps of the decking and onto the boardwalk leading to the square.
They paused at the front of their respective lines and Juliet spoke again.
“The island has always required sacrifice,” she said. “We all sacrificed someone we loved to be here.”
Juliet suddenly produced a large dagger, emblazoned with precious stones.
“Some of you had to leave behind your mothers and fathers,” she continued. “Others abandoned your children. Some had to kill your flesh and blood, your brothers.”
She scowled at me and held the knife-handle out for Joanna to take.
“And sisters.”
Almost Fifteen Years Earlier
Agent Robbins had saved almost twenty-thousand dollars of the thirty he needed for a down payment. He had been eyeing a thirty-two-footer, his dreamboat which fetched a ransom close to 200 thousand dollars. But now it would have to wait.
He needed to spend most of his cash to get to the Alps. He needed to help the three girls who’d been abandoned on his island, no matter the cost. Maybe it wasn’t in the job description, and maybe it was only selfish curiosity, but he needed to know what happened to Rachel and Mark Berklee. And the State Department wasn’t going to foot the bill.
He flew home to America first, where he spent the night at his parent’s house. The next day they dropped him at the airport where he caught a plane to Germany. From Germany he hopped on a train to Geneva. In Geneva he was put in a car with an unfriendly driver who took him over the border, high into the mountains of France.
“I’m looking for the Chateau Infirmerie,” Robbins had said.
“Oui,” the driver replied flatly. He drove his passenger for over an hour until they reached an estate nestled among the trees.
A meadow of wildflowers spread out before the house, which was old but not by European standards. It was large but not sprawling.
The driver pulled the car between the wrought iron gates of the entrance and stopped under the portico.
Robbins let himself out of the car and didn’t bother to ask the driver if he’d mind waiting. With a screech of the tires, the driver was rounding the loop back to the gate and Consular Agent Robbins was left standing alone at the entrance to a French nursing home.
“Bienvenue,” a man wearing a nurse’s uniform greeted him as he came through the double doors.
“Bonjour,” Robbins replied.
He approached the reception counter behind which the nurse stood and lowered his voice. Robbins’ French was near perfect though the nurse had a hard time placing the accent.
“I’m looking for an old-timer,” Robbins said. “His name is Andy Stahl.”.
“Old-timer,” the nurse laughed under his breath. “You’ll need to sign in.”
“Of course,” Robbins said.
After he was led to the man’s room, Robbins could see why the nurse had laughed. This man was not old. He may have been ill, or insane even. But he wasn’t over seventy, as he should have been. This man looked closer to fifty.
“Mr. Stahl,” the nice man from the reception desk said. “This person is here to see you.”
Stahl did not look up. Robbins stepped into the room and looked side to side. There was no television, no computer screen, and the window blinds were drawn.
Stahl sat alone, looking about the same age as Robbins, staring at the wall. Drool ran from the corner of his mouth.
“He doesn’t speak,” the nurse said.
Agent Robbins felt his hope fade. His shoulders dropped and his chin dipped to his chest.
“He doesn’t speak?”
“No, Monsieur.”
Robbins had phoned ahead, but now saw that he had misunderstood the information that had been relayed to him. Stahl may not have been old, but he was mute. Robbins scratched his head. Perhaps his French wasn’t as good as he’d thought.
“What happened to him?”
“Dementia,” the man replied. “Among other things. I’ll leave you two alone.”
“That’s okay,” Robbins said. “I came to ask him about events from his past. I’m afraid I’ve come a very long way for nothing.”
Robbins stepped closer to Stahl and put a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s nice to meet you Mr. Stahl,” Agent Robbins said.
The nurse smiled at Robbins’ kindness and stepped out into the hallway, waiting at the door for his guest to follow. Robbins turned and saw him. The nurse motioned for him to come.
“You can talk to Adele,” the man said. “She’s just down the hall.”
Robbins stepped out the door with the nurse.
